Compile Your Own Backgammon Encyclopedia Online

by Gene Marshall

Learning how to play backgammon can at first be an entirely confusing venture. A teacher who knows the game well enough to be able to explain the basics, but who also knows the variety of strategies that a player can employ to cleverly and soundly win a game, and who also maintains a high level of patience may prove to be a very hard find. However, this challenge should not deter anyone who is interested in learning to play the backgammon board game.

Today, the Internet offers nearly limitless resources in learning how to play this game of chance, race and skill. With free backgammon downloads offered by several online gaming websites, there will never be a dearth of information on backgammon instructions for anyone with the slightest interest in this ancient game that has carried on throughout the centuries and across the globe. It is only a matter of having basic computer skills to navigate through the hundreds of websites to find the right online backgammon venue for you to play.

A worthy gaming website will offer to you, the player, a variety of popular board games including backgammon along with helpful services, usually at absolutely no charge. If you intend to play online backgammon for wagers, then money becomes involved. Websites that include backgammon in their menu of games want you to be able to develop your skills during, before and after you take advantage of real time games against other backgammon players around the globe. Thus, a legitimate site will provide you with a free backgammon download that helps to install any backgammon software that your computer may require in order to facilitate playing on your operating system.

Once you have your backgammon game download you will want to learn how to arrange your board, which is the first step to understanding the flow and objective of the game. Every backgammon board is made up of four quadrants with six points per quadrant, which are in the shape of a triangle. These points are the places upon which your 15 game pieces, in backgammon these are called checkers, will sit. With the roll of a pair of dice, you move your checkers around the board with the ultimate goal of ridding all of your checkers from the board first. At a cursory glance, the backgammon setup appears to be at the mercy of chance as the dice play a leading role in determining how far your checkers will move across the board. Along the way, however, many obstacles may arise such as your opponent's checkers, upon which you cannot land unless there is a single checker sitting on a point that you may then "hit" off the board. Learning how to manage these obstacles and how to hinder your opponent from reaching his home quadrant (known as the home board) before you do, is part of the very calculating arena of backgammon strategy. Fortunately, online, the question, "how is backgammon set up? " is an answer all to easy to find.

Recognized backgammon writer Gene Marshall is commissioned by several well-known internet backgammon magazines. The writer contributes writings about online backgammon and backgammon tournaments. Extra resources and commentaries written by Gene Marshall related to internet backgammon are available on the web.

About the Author

Authority backgammon player Gene Marshall works for a few renowned backgammon sites. The writer concentrates on editorials about backgammon and money backgammon. Supplementary articles by Gene Marshall about backgammon can be obtained on the net.